Investigations on the Bishop of LimburgFranz-Peter van Elst Tebartz, according to information obtained by Der SPIEGEL, are nearing completion. The commission of inquiry has found serous evidence against this religious leader. Among other things, the bishop’s pompous construction projects are said to have been be financed with foundation funds.

Investigations on the Limburg church construction scandal are expected to be completed as early as this week with surprisingly clear results. They are said to, according to information obtained by Der SPIEGEL, to be a sharp indictment of Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst. The five-member ecclesiastical commission of inquiry seems to have succeeded to document justiciable results that could lead to a prosecutor’s investigation against the religious leader.

The church investigators in their research of forensic clues first followed up on secret records, which were stored in the specially rented rooms of a kind of safe house in Limburg. There they found the most important documents relating to the religious scandal building. Lack of clues for code initially delayed the investigation. Some previously unknown financial papers turned out to definitely have episcopal signatures on them.